1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, a device, and a computer program product for determining a type of an impact of an object on a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such algorithms for recognizing a vehicular accident, and the subsequent triggering of personal protective devices, make use of physical signals such as accelerations in the x direction (longitudinal direction of the vehicle, direction of travel), y direction (lateral direction of the vehicle, direction transverse to the direction of travel), or a yaw rate ωz. These signals are integrated or filtered in the respective parts of the algorithm as needed. These prepared signals are then further used in some further algorithm that may then result for example in a decision to trigger restraint devices for occupants of the vehicle.
In general, nowadays the movement of a vehicle in a crash (accident) is predominantly regarded as a linear movement. Here it is assumed that there take place exclusively a linear transfer of momentum (described by the determinable quantity dv) and a linear transmission of force (described by the measurable quantity a, acceleration). However, in the case of a crash what actually occur are combinations of rotational and linear movements.
Published German patent application document DE 10 2008 001215 A proposes a method for controlling at least one safety device that has a first step of acquisition of at least two features from at least one signal of an accident sensor system, in order to form a feature vector from the acquired features. Subsequently, in a second method step there follows a classification of the formed feature vector using a classifier based on statistical learning theory, in order to classify the feature vector in one of at least three possible feature classes. As a third method step, there is provided a controlling of the safety device corresponding to a controlling rule for the feature class in which the feature vector was classified.